Construction of buildings



(No Model.)

E'. F. WELLS. CONSTRUCTION 0F BUILDINGS. No. 508,455. Ptented Nov. 14, 1893.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD E. WELLs, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part ef Letters Patent Ne. 508,455, dated November 14, 1893.

Application filed J une 29, 1893.' Serial No. 479,128. (No model.)

.To @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD F. WELLS, of the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain Improvements in the Construction of Buildings, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the construction of buildings wherein the residents or inmates are under supervision', and more particularly to the construction -of schools, asylums, hospitals and prisons.

The object of my invention is to provide such a building with: first, an apartment or central room, which I term an observation room, wherefrom diverge wings -or wards in such a manner as to permit eflicient oversight being given their occupants; second, with an apartment, which I term a supervising room,

' and which is projected into the observation room to afford the supervising ocer a place of surveillance from which he can command a full view of the observation room and wings; third, with two floors, each provided with an observation room and diverging wings, to-

gether with one supervising room, a part of which extends into each door, and from which room a complete view of both doors is obtained, and, fourth, to provide various details of construction and arrangement as will be more specifically set forth hereinafter, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof, wherein- Figure l is a broken view setting forth my invention, and Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view thereof on the lines -a: inFig. l.

In said drawings, A represents the observation room, which may be of any desired size and shape, but which I prefer to construct 0f the form shown in the drawings. From the observation room, diverge the wings B, B, B', B It will be seen by reference to Fig. 1 that the wings B, B, are arranged at right angles with reference to each other, and that the wings B', B', are arranged at an obtuse angle with reference to each other. The wings are intended forV the wards for the inmates of the institution. It is better to con struct the wings and observation rooms together, without any demarking or separating parts, but this construction may be varied by inserting glass or other partitions through which, however, the interior of the part of this room extends into each of the A two observation rooms, the floor thereof being above the plane of the lower floor and below the plane of the upper door. The supervising room projects out into the observation rooms, by preference, far enough to permit the supervisor to have a complete view of the interior of any of the wings on either floor. The floor of the room is preferably of glass as at G and the open end of the room is provided with a railing marked R.

D is the managers office. The proximal ends of the wings may be left open or provided with transparent or openwork partitions W and doors d, affording ready view of the wards. The doors d', lead tothe porches P, and said doors preferably have glass sections to permit supervision of the porches from roomsA and C.

S, S are stairways leading from the supervising room to the observation rooms of the lower and upper stories respectively. p

Although I prefer the construction shown in the drawings, it will be understood that the number of wings may be increased or diminished and the angle of their divergence may be altered, and quarters may be provided Y for the officers in charge; such an arrangement I have suggested in the extension to D.

In Fig. 2, A represents the observation room in the rst story and A represents the observation room in the second story. The

gle of vision would not permit complete in IOO spection and supervision, yet it is evident that these particular angles of construction are only essential when it is desirable to extend the supervising room into the observation and have the former occupy the smallest possible space in the latter, and yet command a complete View of all the wings.

I assign inmates of the asylum to the diverging Wings; the field for the attendants is the observationroom and Wards, and the supervisor, whose functions are hereinafter explained, has his post of duty in the supervising room. While the Supervising room is shown only in its use in common for two iioors, it is manifest that each floor may be Aprovided With a separate one, yet I do not favor such a construction. While I specially apply my construction to a hospital for the insane, and in illustrating the invention I have described it mostly for that use, yet it is equally adapted for use for other institutions, as for example, asylu ms, hospitals, dac., for epileptics, the feeble minded, deaf and dumb, aged, sick and other dependent or disciplined classes. y

The advantages 0f this construction will be apparent by briefly reviewing the require ments experience has demonstrated expedient inconducting an asylum.

`Insane persons have their comfort and safety jeopardized at the hands of themselves, their fellows and their attendants. rlhese dangers become greater in proportion to the distance the inmates are removed from effi cial supervision and control.

The plans under Which this class of institutions are now constructed remove a large proportion of the inmates from the seat of oicial authority and necessarily prevents constant surveillance of the attendants and inmates so situated. Under the plan here submitted, the supervisor in authority is centrally'located and has at all times a view of stitution it can be most eficiently and qnick` ly rendered to them.

I claiml. In a building of' the class described, the

'combination with an observation room, of

three or more Wings divergent therefrom and adapted to permit `observation of their interiors from the observation room, and a supervising station in said observation room,sub stantially as described.

2. A building of the class described having in combination two observation rooms on different iloors, three or more wings radiating from each of said observation rooms, and a supervising room common to both floors and affording a place of observation for theseveral Wings of each, substantially as described.

3. In a building of the class described'the combination of a central observation `room and a series of Wings radiating therefrom, two of which are arranged at right angles to each other and open into said observation room, and two of which are arranged at an'obtuse angle with reference to eachother and also opening into said observation room, substantially as described.

4. In a buildingof the class described the combination of the room A, the wings B, B, B', B', porches P and openings d', substantially as described.

EDWARD F. WELLS. Witnesses:

ALBERT M. GERSTLE, W. C. I-IAWLEY. 

